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The Columbus region is stepping up its involvement in an “exchange” meant to boost exports and
economic competitiveness in a fast-changing global economy.

The metropolitan area is one of 20 picked to participate in the program.

The exchange is an extension of the Global Cities Initiative that got its start two years ago by
JPMorgan Chase & Co. and the Brookings Institution. Chase is the Columbus region’s biggest
private employer and has donated $10 million toward the program.

Columbus has been involved in the Global Cities Initiative since the beginning. The aim was to
help leaders of participating cities identify and leverage their greatest economic-development
resources.

The leaders, then, would be armed with information, ideas and connections they need to compete
internationally.

The benefit, of course, would be new jobs and economic growth at home.

“There’s some very practical things we can do,” said Kenny McDonald, chief economic officer of
Columbus 2020, the region’s economic-development arm.

McDonald said research done as part of the initiative shows the region’s exports total about $9
billion a year and that increasing that by about $1 billion annually can add 4,000 or 5,000 jobs.
It’s clear that other metro areas are doing a better job than Columbus in that international
arena.

“Why we need to work on this is because there is a great opportunity,” he said.

In the first year of the exchange, eight cities will design and implement strategies to boost
their economies through global trade and investment. Columbus is part of a group that includes 11
other cities that already are working with Brookings to boost exports through the Metropolitan
Export Initiative.

As part of the exchange, the metropolitan areas will develop customized strategies that will
integrate exports and foreign direct investment that could include logistics and advanced
industries. Over time, other cities will be added to the exchange.

Leaders from each region will work to establish new relationships with the other metro areas to
share the best ideas.

“There are enormous untapped opportunities for leaders in cities and metro areas to expand and
strengthen their economies through greater global engagement,” said Richard Daley, a former Chicago
mayor who has led the Global Cities Initiative, in a statement. “But business, government and civic
leaders must be proactive and purposeful in acting on this opportunity.”

McDonald said the challenge for Columbus 2020 is to take what it learns from the initiative to
strengthen 2020’s plans for economic development and boost exports.

“We want to integrate with the blocking and tackling we’re doing,” he said.

Amy Liu, Brookings’ senior fellow and co-director of the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program,
said at the end of the effort, cities should be able to come up with real strategies that they can
put to work to boost their economies and think more globally.

After the brutal recession, Brookings began to re-evaluate strategies with an eye on figuring
out what would work in today’s economy.

One way is to help companies expand through exports, Liu said.

“You create value when existing companies innovate and create new products,” he said. “There is
a cyclical effect.”